{Japan: Eat} A Seafood Breakfast At Sapporo’s Nijo Fish Market
In a Nutshell:
- Where: Nijo Market, Sapporo, Hokkaido
- When: October 6, 2013
- *Notes: open from around 7 AM – 6 PM, a variety of fresh seafood and produce is sold here, approx. 5-minutes away from Odori Station on foot, a number of restaurants serve up seafood donburis (fresh fish on top of a bowl of rice)
Full Report:
On a crisp Sunday morning in early October, M and I set out from our hotel to walk to Sapporo’s famous Nijo Market. Comprised of over 50 restaurants and stalls selling all sorts of seafood and local produce, we had heard from multiple sources that this was the place to get one of the best breakfasts in the city. In particular, we had been told that we needed to try a donburi ~ fresh seafood atop a bowl of rice.
As sashimi is one of our favorite things to eat and we were quite hungry, we walked along very briskly until we reached the block where the market was. It looked exactly like it had in the pictures I’d seen of it: rows and rows of vendors with their wares set out in front for customers to peruse.
And what wares there were! Crab, scallops, a variety of fish, shellfish, melons, corn, potatoes, packaged ramen, and even butter.
Almost every store we passed by had a worker in the front calling out to customers and urging them to buy, buy, buy. One friendly gentleman approached me and said, “I saw you looking at my crabs, I think you might like one?”
As we walked by the stalls, we were also taking note of each and every donburi restaurant that we passed. M kept looking at me and raising his eyebrows questioningly, “Do you want to eat at this one?” They all looked so good that I was having a very hard time deciding. Finally, when we were back at the very corner where we’d started from I said, “This is it, let’s eat here!”
The restaurant that we ended up eating at.
The restaurant had a large banner outside with pictures of all their different donburis.
Once inside, we discovered that the restaurant was a very cozy little hole in the wall comprised of only 2 tables. It appeared to be run by a middle-aged couple, with the wife taking orders and serving and the husband masterfully putting the bowls together behind the counter. We were immediately each given a cup of hot tea, and as we had already decided what we wanted from the outside banner we were able to give our orders right away. I opted for #15 (salmon, uni, maguro, octopus, ikura, shrimp) while M went with #21 (maguro and salmon in the shape of a rose).
When the food arrived, we were momentarily speechless. The pictures I took really do the donburis no justice. The colors of all the different types of seafood just seemed to jump out at us and you could practically see the freshness of the fish. As for the taste? It was like heaven in a bowl. I ate every last scrap, even the octopus which I normally really don’t like. And lo and behold, even that tasted good!
looks super healthy and unprocessed!
Yes, it’s about as healthy a breakfast as you can get in Japan. The seafood was probably swimming around in the ocean mere hours before we ate it.
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Your bonburi looks really good! It must have tasted great since the fish were so fresh from the market. I can imagine it must have been really difficult to pick just one place out of so many restaurants. By the way, was it cold in Hokkaido? X
It was hard to pick just one, we stood outside of the restaurant looking at the menu banner for quite a while. When we were in Hokkaido, it was around 70 degrees during the day and in the mid-50s at night. I’m guessing a lot of people would say that’s not very cold but I did feel pretty chilly at times. I had to bundle up in a sweater and jeans and a North Face jacket and gloves. I can’t even imagine going to Hokkaido now! Seeing the Sapporo Snow Festival is on my bucket list but I don’t know how I could ever stand the cold.
I bet! They all looked amazing. I would be going up and down the street forever not being able to make up my mind. I went to Hokkaito for sking one winter and oh my, it was COLD! The mercury was indicating -22F and my face hurt. It’s not the place for me in the winter… (>.<;)
-22F….I have never been in temperatures that cold, I can’t even imagine what that feels like! It would be a totally wasted trip for me if I was to go to Japan in that kind of weather. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to step one toe outside of the hotel!
I had never been exposed such an extremely cold temperature until then either! I thought it was insane to even ski in there. My face hurt like tiny needles pricking it and my lung felt weird every time I took a deep breath. Don’t go to Hokkaido in the winter! 😖 X
Lovely photos! The donburi looks really really good!
Thank you! I must say that the donburi tasted a thousand times better than it looked in the pictures. Freshest seafood I’ve ever eaten in my life, I just inhaled that thing!
The food in Hokkaido was the best I’ve ever had in Japan, as far as I can remember 🙂 I mean, it’s really hard to go wrong here, but, I remember it being amazing!
I know the food in Hokkaido was some of the best I’ve ever had in Japan. The ramen, the soup curry, the Genghis Khan, the seafood, it’s like a foodies paradise!
That is a perfect description of it 😀
The donburi looked so delicious! I’d have a hard time deciding which bowl to choose – let alone which shop!. I would like to visit the Sapporo Snow Festival too, but I don’t like the cold (me arthritis! ouchy-ouchy! hehe!)
I’m glad we chose the shop we did because the couple running it were so nice. Of course the food was delicious as well! M and I sometimes have discussions as to whether I can seriously ever make it to the Sapporo Snow Festival. He was saying that if I think I can do it we can go this upcoming February but I don’t know…..just the other night it was only mid 50s here in So Cal and I was freezing my butt off!
Wow this looks so good! I will be in Tokyo next year. Dropping by Hokkaido sounds like a good idea 😀
The food in Hokkaido is so good, there’s all kinds of specialties there like the seafood, soup curry, dairy products, Genghis Khan, and miso butter corn ramen. We flew up to Sapporo from Osaka, I think it was a little less than 2 hours so Tokyo would be a somewhat shorter trip. I envy you going to Tokyo, still my favorite city in Japan!
I’m glad you enjoyed Hokkaido! Seafood there is great.
Yes, we loved our trip to Hokkaido! We only got to see Sapporo and Hakodate, I hope we can get to Furano someday, the pictures of that area look so beautiful! And the seafood in Sapporo was the best we’ve ever had!
I too would have gone for the maguro and salmon bowl. Yum. It all looked delicious!
Yes, M surely did enjoy his maguro and salmon bowl! He said it was the freshest fish he ever ate in his life. Even more than the sushi we had at the Tsukiji Fish Market and that’s saying something!
The donburi look great – love the salmon rose.
I also like the restaurant interiors (if you can call them that!). The stacked crate tables are great
I know, I loved that salmon rose too. Since I didn’t eat at the stacked crate tables restaurant, I didn’t even notice them until you pointed it out! I loved how all the restaurants there were very hole in the wall. The restaurant we did eat at felt like someone’s tiny, cramped living room.
Wow, you food looks amazing in these pics and I believe it was super good.
Unfortunately I’m not planning to visit Hokkaido soon, as I would like to the south of Japan before, and you know a tight budget doesn’t help. But yes, I would really like to visit Hokkaido and I will.
Yes, the food was super good! Hokkaido is known for their great seafood and we really enjoyed it while we were there.
By the south of Japan do you mean Kyushu? Or even further down to Okinawa? I haven’t been to Okinawa yet but I visited Kyushu both this year and last and really loved it there. The people are the friendliest I’ve ever met and the food there is wonderful as well. I think the best ramen comes from Kyushu!
I mean both, if my budget allows that. I know a couple of guys from Kyushu and they really are friendly, and yes, the food? I just can’t wait.
Dear goodness! I’m drooling looking at your photos! 😀
Ha ha ha
Oh, I know I was drooling when typing up the post! Even though there are places here in So Cal that serve up seafood donburis they are no where near as good as the ones at the Sapporo Nijo Market. Or anywhere in Japan for that matter!
My aunt visited Japan year ago. She said it was a very wonderful country. She told me that I should visit it in Spring or Autumn, considering that I love Cherry Blossom and Momiji. I’ll save up lots of money so that I can at least visit it twice! Ha ha ha
Yes, I hope you will get a chance to go to Japan someday. Have you gone to many other countries within Asia? I envy you living in that part of the world. We’ve only gone to Japan and Hong Kong so far but we really want to visit all the Asian countries someday.
I have never left South East Asia.
I have been to Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand.
I should visit places which have more different cultures. 😀
I want to have different kind of experience! Ha ha ha
Oh wow! That looks like an amazing breakfast! My mother loves sashimi but I can’t see her digging the idea of it as breakfast at all! I on the other hand think it sounds like the most amazing breakfast ever. I’d kind of be torn with getting something that was mostly maguro (my faaavorite) with some other sashimi (sept salmon… My least favorite) or trying what you got with a little bit of everything and being adventurous! Is the shrimp raw?! I’ve never seem raw shrimp! What does it taste like/how is the texture??
Gah! Now I’m hungry for sashimi!
It may be the best breakfast I’ve ever had in Japan! I know sashimi does sound a bit strange to eat first thing in the morning. But it was so good! I love maguro too, especially toro (fatty tuna). The raw shrimp was most likely amaebi (sweet shrimp). It’s absolutely one of my most favorite things to order at a sushi restaurant. I hope you’ll get to try it some time. Most sushi bars will serve the body of the amaebi as nigiri style and then deep fry the heads for you to eat separately. You can thus eat the entire head and it’s so crispy and delicious!
I’ve always wanted to try toro! It hasn’t happened yet but I’ll get around to it! I’ve had shrimp at sushi restaurants but I’m not sure if it was raw or not. I think part of the reason is I don’t really have any good restaurants nearby. Or perhaps I’m not being adventurous when I order?
I can’t wait to try all this stuff when I go to Japan!! The fried heads sound delicious!
If you like maguro then I think you will be blown away by toro. It is the fattiest part of the fish and it just melts in your mouth. Raw shrimp is pretty squishy and has a shininess to it. Cooked shrimp is much more firm in texture. I’m sorry to hear that you don’t have too many good Japanese restaurants nearby where you live. They may not have a good variety of seafood in that case and stock up on basics like maguro, salmon, yellow tail, and the like. But you will be in Japan soon enough and you will have your pick of places to eat from!
You made me sooo hungry with japanese food!!!! love it xxx 🙂
Thank you! I got so hungry for Japanese food when I was typing up the blog post as well. Too bad it was in the middle of the night and I didn’t even have any Japanese food leftovers to nibble on.
Wow, I would have been there the entire day trying to select my breakfast, everything looks so good. I prefer a seafood Japanese style breakfast over the traditional American breakfast, it is much more satisfying!
I love both American and Japanese breakfasts but I must admit that I feel more energy after eating the latter. Bacon and eggs and pancakes and such are so tasty but sometimes I feel like a real slug after eating such fare. Still, sometimes I get such cravings for that kind of food that I’m willing to suffer the consequences!
Everything looks so tasty.
The food was really wonderful, not just at Nijo Market but in Sapporo as a city. I can’t wait to go back to Hokkaido someday.
yum yum yum!! i love donburi. that one looks so scrumptious! i went to nijo market last year, and i absolutely loved it. it has a different feel from tsukiji here in tokyo, and the seafood in sapporo is just amazing. nice photos too – i can never get clean photos of fish markets! there’s always too many people clamoring about 🙂
I think I may actually have preferred Nijo to Tsukiji. It is, of course, much smaller but I found it to be far less commercial and really catering to the locals. And I liked the food better too! I’ve eaten at Daiwa Sushi at Tsukiji and while it was pretty amazing, I loved my donburi at Nijo. So simple but really delicious. We were lucky in that the day we went wasn’t too crowded at Nijo. Maybe the morning rush was already over or Sunday isn’t that popular of a day to go.
The food looks great! This would only be the 5th time this word is used here but WOW!!!
Here, we put kalamansi in our Japanese soy sauce (Kikkoman) and mix wasabe before we dip the sashimi. Kalamansi is a citrus fruit that is sweeter than lime but less than lemon. Its sourness is also between both and it’s just the size of a grape. It gives an extra kick to the flavor.
Fresh salmon in the shape of a rose… now that’s what I want to get on Valentine’s day!
Very nice-looking crab! I haven’t tried that variety yet. I think I would go crazy in that area since everything looks good! 😀
The food at Njio market was wonderful. Well, really everything we ate in the city of Sapporo was delicious, they have such great regional foods: seafood, soup curry, BBQ mutton, dairy products, melons, and grilled corn.
Oh very interesting, I never heard of kalamansi before. It sounds very good mixed with the soy sauce and wasabi. The Japanese also like to add a citrusy taste to their sashimi/sushi sometimes and they will use ponzu sauce. Ponzu is basically a mix of soy sauce and a sour citrus fruit (such as yuzu or lemon) with some other ingredients tossed in. Do they ever use it in the Philippines?
Oh yes, I would prefer the salmon variety rose to any other kind!
All the crabs looked sumptuous as we were walking around the market. I thought they would be on the cheap side since the market had a wholesale feel to it but most were around $100 U.S. I guess they were pretty large but still……
The word “ponzu” has appeared in several menus in Japanese and fusion restaurants in the Philippines but I can’t really remember having tried any dish with ponzu. I will look for ponzu and give it a try.
I thought I was the only one who thought the crab was expensive for market price. Maybe the taste is amazing?
Sashimi for breakfast, now that is heaven.
I know, right? I’d love to start my day off with a seafood donburi more often!
The fish markets were awesome! There was so much of everything everywhere, it was overwhelming in a good way. It really was a seafood paradise (*´ω`*) I think the ikura bowls are really good at capturing attention because they’re so bright and orange and they fill up the bowls so much haha.
Seafood was amazing everywhere in Hokkaido but the food at the fish markets were the best! I remember the picture of your ikura bowl, it looked so good. I had heard that the ikura + uni combination bowl was the most popular item to get but I really wanted to try a little bit of everything. M, oddly enough, is not a fan of either ikura or uni. But you’re right, the ikura really grabs your atention. And it tastes so much better in Japan than in the U.S. I never order it at sushi restaurants in So Cal, the ikura just tastes like really salty balls full of fish water, yick!
I suppose you either like it or you don’t! The texture of ikura is interesting so I always enjoy eating it 😀 Yeah, I should think it’d taste the best over there~ I still remember how overwhelmed I was to see those orange bowls everywhere haha.
いつもながら食欲をそそりますね。減量には大敵です。
Oh yes, in Japan all the food was so good that I couldn’t stop eating it. I was dismayed to find out I had gained 5 pounds by the time the trip was over!
Looks amazing! Yummmm
Oh it was! The best raw seafood I’ve ever had the privilege of eating.
Love your seafood pics! I can almost smell the scent of the sea!
It was wonderful seeing all the fresh seafood! But I must say that eating it was even better lol!
That amaebi looks so shiny and fresh in the picture. Drooling here 🙂
Oh I just love amaebi! Especially when the heads are deep fried, those are the best.
wow!! mouth watering pictures! Hopefully I can visit Japan one day
I hope you will get a chance to visit Japan someday as well. The food there is amazing!
I have been to Hokkaido.
So, I envy you!
Hokkaido was wonderful, I only got to visit Sapporo and Otaru and Hakodate so I hope to see more next time. Thanks so much for commenting!
Excellent post, and one that’s given me an idea for my upcoming trip.
I often reflect on the fact that no matter how often I’ve been to Japan, my aversion to seafood has always kept me from attaining a complete appreciation of Japanese cuisine – no surprise given how seafood forms such an important part of the local diet. Fortunately, the feeling quickly dissipates in light of the pleasant memories formed whilst enjoying Japan’s many non-seafood specialities (including curry – mmm, curry . . .). Still, it does feel that I’m missing out on something wonderful.
Nevertheless, your pictures are really pushing me to venture just a wee bit out of my comfort zone (at least as far as dining options are concerned). There are some things I still need to avoid due to food allergies (shrimp and squid for example) or intense phobias (such as crab), but I think I’d like the chance to dig into something like that absolutely splendid-looking maguro and salmon bowl. I’ve tried small portions of fish before with no serious ill effects so I think I should be fine.
In any case, come next year, if you see nothing on my blog but pictures of curry rice then you’ll know I chickened out yet again. (^_^)
Cheerio.
As always, thank you for your kind words and thoughtful comments.
If you are going to try seafood anywhere in Japan, then I would very much recommend Sapporo or just Hokkaido, in general. Our donburis at Nijo Market were really wonderful, some of the best sashimi we’ve ever had in our lives. You mentioned that you have a phobia to crab, is this just to the meat or does it extend to the actual animal? If both, then please be careful if you choose to go to the fish market as there are crabs all about. They were mostly dead but I think there were some live ones here and there.
I think you also mentioned that you were going to Otaru. They are known for having some of the best sushi in Japan and there are a row of restaurants close to Otaru Station (Sushi Street). So, if for some reason you can’t make it to Nijo Market, I think Otaru’s Sushi Street has restaurants that serve donburis as well.
Wow, it’s already December which means your trip to Japan is only a couple of months away! I can’t even tell you how excited I am for you. M has been asking me if I would like to go and has even been looking up plane tickets and hotel rooms. But I really don’t think I can manage the cold. Instead I will have to go to the Snow Festival and Otaru Snow Light Path Festival vicariously via your excellent posts. Can’t wait!
I would go to Japan to just try these foods! Looks absolutely heavenly!
Oh the seafood in Sapporo was wonderful! The one thing I didn’t get to try though was the crab. Must return some day just for that!
I was looking at your pictures last night … makes me extremely hungry!! Love Donburi!
I love all kinds of donburi too, this is definitely one of the best I ever ate!
I like your style of writing, and the food really looks so yummy just by looking at the pictures! (I’m looking at the pictures at 12:45 AM in our time 😐 and I haven’t realized that I’m starving until now!) makes me want to eat Japanese food for lunch tomorrow, err… later
Thank you so much for your kind words. Yes, that was definitely one of the best meals we had on this last trip to Japan. When I typed up that post it was very late at night and I got very hungry as well!
I like the way you capture the street scene. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks so much! This was such a fun little place to go in Sapporo. It was great to mingle with the locals doing their food shopping and getting to see all the fresh seafood and produce.
Nicely done. Great photos!
Thank you very much! Going to Nijo Market was definitely one of the highlights of our time in Sapporo. The seafood there is the best I’ve tasted in Japan so far.
This offering of fresh seafood looks fantastic! Besides looking tasty, the food is so beautifully presented.
Thanks for liking my posts about Oaxaca, it’s an amazing place too!
Seafood in northern Japan is so good and fresh, probably the best I’ve ever had in my life! I love your posts about Oaxaca, your pictures are wonderful. I hope I’ll get a chance to go there for myself someday.